Nect GmbH wins adesso and inQventures’ start-up competition

Munich/Dortmund | 26. April 2018

Nect is the name of the winner of the second Start-up Boostival, a competition run by adesso and its incubator inQventures for young company founders. A jury comprising venture-capital representatives and corporate investors selected the young Hamburg-based company from amongst the six finalists to be the winner of the pitch event because of its "innovative, forward-thinking and convincing” IT business idea. The Boostival targets B2B start-ups from the fields of fintech, healthtech, insurtech, the internet of things and mobility, and from the public and utilities sectors.

Six promising young companies – Bilendo, Bodylabs, Smokeless, KidSteps, Magment and Nect – had managed to get to the final of the second Start-up Boostival in Munich on 19 April, organised by the adesso subsidiary inQventures. But it was the presentation given by Nect co-founder and CBDO Carlo Ulbrich that impressed the 10-member specialist jury the most: the Hamburg-based start-up is offering the first legally compliant, digital identity recognition system based on artificial intelligence with its “Selfie-Ident” system. This innovative method has the potential to eliminate the need for the complicated, time-consuming Postident process, where people go to a post office to carry out an identity check. Founder Carlo Ulbrich says: “We do everything that an employee has to do to carry out video identity checks, but without any staff. Moreover, it’s much faster and more secure!”

The chairman of the Boostival jury, Oliver Gajek from Munich Network, addressed the Nect representatives directly at the award ceremony: “Your business case is extremely promising and we believe that you will exploit your current first-mover advantage and make the most of it!”

Boostival moderator and inQventures CEO Frank Reinecke, who mentors young start-ups and will also provide Nect with support, welcomed the decision made by the independent jury: “Without a doubt, Nect provides an ideal solution for modern identity checks in the digital age. Moreover, we also believe that Nect will replace the inefficient Video-Ident process, which isn’t very user friendly and has high cancellation rates.”

The prize that Nect received is a two-day intensive workshop in adesso’s Interaction Room together with some of the IT service provider’s experts. They will analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Nect business model as a team and sound out professional methods for a quick, successful market launch. Moreover, the idea of the Boostival is that the contacts that Nect has made with investors and venture-capital providers from the adesso network will help the young company to take further steps.

You will find more information about the winner of the second Start-up Boostival on Nect GmbH’s company website at www.nect.com. Information about the Start-up Boostival event and the inQventures incubator is available at http://www.inqventures.com.